I second the politicians

Sometimes life is just so conflicting that you don't know, as we used to say around my neighborhood, whether to spit or wind your watch.

Now here's the dilemma. There is no more idiotic situation in the whole history of sport than the way college football manipulates its national championship. But, at the same time, per usual, all sorts of politicians, even now including the president-elect, are agitating that the system must be changed to conform with the natural way champions are chosen the world over.

My head is spinning. I agree with the politicians, but it is an article of my faith that you just can't have politicians meddling in sports. You know how ridiculous these guys are. If, for example, Baltimore plays Kansas City, the two mayors or governors, or whatever, rush to the spotlight and bet a bushel of crabs against a side of beef. No, you don't want these dubious types of individuals infecting games.

But this time, this modest private citizen is getting in bed with the self-proclaimed public servants. The college football playoff is just too cockeyed. Take the politicians and give the points.

You probably already know the problem. In every other NCAA sport, the national champion is determined by playoffs. But not in the single most important sport: Division I football. No, here, only two teams are chosen by some combination of polls, computers and the phases of the moon.

The defenders of the current system are so smug. They may be out of step with fair competition everywhere, but they love to profess that only in their Division I college football does the regular season matter. Of course, it's the opposite. Southern Cal, for example, got upset early in the season, and that pretty much meant the Trojans were finished dreaming big for the year. Obviously, having playoffs makes the regular season matter more.

The college football pooh-bahs also prattle on about how a playoff would ruin the bowl system. Of course, it wouldn't. The big bowls would be used for the playoffs, making them more popular, and the dopey little bowls could still invite ordinary teams to come and fill up a Thursday afternoon spot on ESPN. As Charlie Weis, the befuddled coach at Notre Dame explained in a moment of clarity after his Fighting Irish ended the season a hapless 6-6, sure he'd go to a bowl, because then he could practice for two more weeks. So, off to Honolulu, Cholly.

Cynical? The college presidents who back the current arrangement love to stand up on their hind legs and bark that playoffs would keep the boys out of classes. While the truth is that the system now in place only assures more coaches that their student-athletes will continue to have the emphasis on the latter.

Of course, if Governor Blagojevich also comes out in favor of changing the system, then ... then I may have to rethink my position

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